CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – MIT will be sending its largest contingent to the NCAA Fencing National Championship in a decade following the selections of senior Robin Shin (Brookline, Mass.), freshman Mounica Paturu (Plainsboro, N.J.), and junior Joseph Rafidi (Los Angeles, Calif.). In a field comprised of 144 fencers, 10 will represent Division III programs as Brandeis University and NYU also earned three qualifiers while Drew University rounds out the list.

The University of the Incarnate Word and San Antonio Sports will co-host the championships at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas. The men's portion of the competition will be held March 21-22 followed by the women on March 23-24.

Shin became the first MIT fencer to be a four-time participant at the NCAA Championship after recording her fourth straight top-10 performance in the sabre competition at the NCAA Northeast Regional. Paturu, the lone Division III representative in the epee group, is the Engineers' first qualifier in this discipline since Stephanie Shin '10 earned a spot in 2008. Rafidi, a first-time selection, ends a six-year absence for the men's team from the national scene and is the Cardinal and Gray's first epeeist to make the trip since Trevor Chang '07 in 2005.

For more information about the championships log on to www.NCAA.com. To catch live coverage of the event, log in to ESPN3 or the WatchESPN App. An hour long, documentary-style highlight show of the National Collegiate Men's and Women's Fencing Championships will be shown on ESPNU on Saturday, April 2 at 8:00 p.m.